Relief of pain is one of the important goals in medicine. One method for alleviating pain is administration of analgesic drugs which act to decrease the awareness of the sensation of pain by elevating the pain threshold.
Opiate alkaloids, for example, morphine, codeine and oxycodone, are among the more potent analgesic drugs available in the treatment of pain. Although the primary action of opiate alkaloids is analgesia, there are serious side-effects associated with these compounds such as respiratory depression and addiction.
In an effort to maintain the maximum analgesic effect of opiate alkaloids and to minimize the side effects of these compounds, there has been a search for a compound which would potentiate the action of the opiate alkaloid, and thereby, reduce the amount of opiate used.